Shadow Academy: The Complete Series: Shadow Academy

By Kat Cotton

Shadow Academy has many secrets… and I'm one of them.

Plucked from foster care and offered a scholarship to an elite school, I figured I had it made. But it didn't take me long to discover how this school worked. Scholarship kids at the bottom of the heap, and way at the top, Ren Worthington. With his breath-taking good looks and bottomless pits of family money, you'd think he'd have better things to do than bully us poor kids.

Not so.

Ren and the other human students live their lives unaware of the creatures lurking in the dark. But us scholarship kids weren't selected just for our academic skills. We're all half-bloods and freaks - fae, witch, shifter, demon. In return for our free ride, we protect the rich brats from paranormal dangers.

I don't want to get close to Ren, I don't want to work with him and I sure don't want to succumb to his charms, but I have no choice.  Things aren't what they seem on the surface. Our families have a history that goes way back and the connection between us might just be the thing to save or destroy me.

Shadow Academy has many secrets… and maybe Ren is one of them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kat Cotton
• Release date: Oct 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393878261

Book preview

Shadow Academy has many secrets... and I’m one of them.

Plucked from foster care and offered a scholarship to an elite school, I figured I had it made. But it didn’t take me long to discover how this school worked. Scholarship kids at the bottom of the heap, and way at the top, Ren Worthington. With his breath-taking good looks and bottomless pits of family money, you’d think he’d have better things to do than bully us poor kids.

Not so.

Ren and the other human students live their lives unaware of the creatures lurking in the dark. But us scholarship kids weren’t selected just for our academic skills. We’re all half-bloods and freaks - fae, witch, shifter, demon. In return for our free ride, we protect the rich brats from paranormal dangers.

I don’t want to get close to Ren, I don’t want to work with him and I sure don't want to succumb to his charms, but I have no choice.  Things aren’t what they seem on the surface. Our families have a history that goes way back and the connection between us might just be the thing to save or destroy me.

Shadow Academy has many secrets... and maybe Ren is one of them.

Thanks for picking up the Shadow Academy series. I hope you enjoy Cherry and Ren’s adventures.

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Scholarship Girl: Shadow Academy # 1

Chapter 1   

REN WORTHINGTON IS a pus-filled boil on the buttocks of society.

That’s what I’d stupidly written inside the back cover of my trigonometry book. The very book that was not in my backpack.

If I didn’t find the book, I could dig my grave now. I’d be handing out ammunition and painting a target on my back. I’d end up like that kid who’d accidentally fallen into the school moat. And all he’d said was that Ren Worthington was no Justin Bieber.

Not many of the other students at Edgewater Academy shared my thoughts on Ren Worthington. Most of them thought Ren Worthington was more like the sun shining out of society’s buttocks. The absolute worst, most bully-attracting crime you could commit in this school was not considering Ren Worthington a god.

Stay under the radar, don’t attract attention. Be invisible. Those words had been my mantra for the past two years. I couldn’t screw all that up now.

I upended my backpack on my bed, hope in my heart that I’d just overlooked that book.

Five other textbooks, a ton of stationery and a couple of overripe bananas but no trig book.

The hope in my heart died and left a nasty ache behind.

Rushing to the wardrobe at the end of my bunk, I tripped over my shoes and kicked them across the room. It might be in there. It just might. Wishful thinking, since I’d just been using the book in math class five minutes ago.

I pulled out my clothes, my shoes, all my meager possessions. Nope. Nothing.

The dull ache in my stomach grew. I’d left it in the classroom. And I needed to find it. Now. Before someone else did.

I raced from the dorm.

Cherry! My dorm mate Polly yelled. Clean up that mess before you go.

Later.

A messy dorm meant black marks for all of us, but right now, I had more pressing issues.

Before I hit the back stairs, I stopped, cursed under my breath, and ran back to the dorm. I’d been halfway through changing out of my uniform and still only wore a bra on top.

I threw on a t-shirt and my favorite hoodie then opened the drawer and swept all the mess off my bed. I’d sort it out later.

I stumbled down the stairs. Tripped. Grabbed the hand rail before I went flying. Lucky. I needed luck. I needed all the luck in the world.

If I found that book, I’d rip off the back cover. Shred it and destroy it. I’d never let my thoughts leave my head and take material form again. In my head, they were safe from prying eyes.

I must’ve left my book sitting on my desk, or under my desk, or somewhere near my desk, and I needed to get it back before anyone else found it.

I had ten minutes to find it, save my life and get to the meeting. Being late would get me another black mark, one for every minute. Too many black marks meant expulsion — and I skated way too close to that edge as it was.

Where the heck had I put that book? Why the heck had I put those words into writing in the first place?

Frick. Frack. Bollocks.

The book wasn’t on my desk or in the shelf under it.

PMS, that’s why. PMS combined with Ren’s stupid face. The Ren fan girls at this school called his face a national treasure. More like the face you see on a wanted poster, a face with the cold eyes of a serial killer. I had no idea what they saw in him. I guess having bottomless pits of money made anyone more attractive.

The last straw had been the sneer on that national treasure face. I’d been called up to answer a question on the board. I didn’t ask to be called up, did everything I could avoid it. It wasn’t my fault Ren had tried and failed. I’d been tempted to fail myself, just make one tiny error. Stay under the radar. But my hand didn’t obey and I’d got it perfectly correct.

A sneer from Ren Worthington could cause a hundred annoying bullying tactics from his stupid minions. Anything from being tripped over in the dining room with a tray full of food to having nasty surprises dumped in your bed. Ren didn’t even have to lift a hand to make my life hell.

He might not be smart at math but when it came to getting others to do his bidding, Ren was a genius.

I searched under my desk, in case the book had slid out of my backpack. But nope, no book under there.

Blood hammered through my body. Maybe someone had seen it and set it on the shelf.

I’d just stood up when I heard his voice in the hallway, as though my thoughts summoned him. That drawling voice everyone thought was so soothing and wonderful. Then someone else, higher pitched. Oscar. Probably both Blake and Oscar. The golden trio with Ren as their leader. Blake provided the muscle and Oscar... I’m not sure, maybe comic relief.

They would not be heading in here. No way.

But why were they even in this part of the school when classes were over?

I jumped away from the shelves and slid back under the desk. I couldn’t risk being seen.

That crappy old desk might not provide adequate cover for most people, just a wooden top with spindly iron legs. For a fancy academy, we sure had low-rent classrooms. But that desk threw shadows, and I could hide in the shadows like no one else. That’s how I’d survived a string of foster homes, that’s how I survived at this school. I blended in, undetectable, becoming a shadow myself.

The door creaked and my heart hammered.

I folded the bulk of me up into as small a ball as possible, wrapping my hoodie over my knees, staying within the shadowy bounds.

As a little kid, I’d thought I was just really good at hiding, like some kind of hide-and-seek genius. Eventually, I worked out it was more than that. A preternatural ability. A pretty lame one compared to the other scholarship kids but it came in handy.

Footsteps drew closer.

What do you think? Oscar snickered.

Ren snorted as though the question wasn’t worth an answer.

Come on, she’s hot stuff. Surely you've considered it. Blake’s voice put me on edge.

"Britney. Ren’s voice dripped with condensation. Can you see me with a girl named Britney? Commoners date girls named Britney."

They were discussing the new girl. But why do that in an empty classroom?

You could call her by a nickname. Like Petal or Kitten.

Ren snorted again. A nickname wouldn’t disguise her lack of class. Is her hair color even real? And the way she dresses, too loud and attention-seeking. Another poor-as-dirt scholarship girl to mar the place. How that girl scored a scholarship, I’ll never know. No brains, no breeding, no taste. Maybe she gave special favors to the scholarship committee... but she sure won’t survive until graduation. I can read her future. Knocked up by sixteen, working as a pole dancer at a roadside strip joint to support her pile of brats by twenty.

I pressed my nails into my palms. Nothing about Britney said she’d end up as a stripper. And no woman should be talked about like that. I wanted to slam my fist into his face. A right hook for looking down on women. A left for looking down on pole dancers. Another right for looking down on single moms. Rich kids like him never considered that when you had an empty belly, you played the cards you’d been dealt.

So far, I’d only caught a glimpse of Britney but everyone had been talking about her. A new girl starting semester a week late made big news around here.

She’d been waiting in the hallway outside a classroom. I didn’t want to join the sea of faces staring at her but, when I’d turned my head, she showed none of that newbie awkwardness. I’d have been all beetroot red and avoiding stares but Britney beamed a smile and scrunched her hand into a tiny wave, like a beauty pageant winner. With her face, she’d be used to attention. I picked her as a scholarship girl immediately. Her white blond hair and pale skin already set her apart but she had an ethereal beauty that said she wasn’t fully human.

She’d be at the meeting and I’d find out more.

I wouldn’t mind being the one to knock her up. Blake crossed the room, coming closer to me.

I wouldn’t want to plant my seed in her, but I’d pay good money for a lap dance. Oscar chuckled. Hey, do I have to wait for her to get knocked up before she strips? Maybe I could offer her a few bucks now. Everyone knows those scholarship girls will do anything for money.

I dug my nails in deeper. I held my breath. I wouldn’t say a word, and I wouldn’t swing my fist. The metal desk leg dug into my back and the wooden floor chilled my butt but I’d stay here, perfectly still, until they left.

At least she’s better than the last one. Ren scoffed. Cherry Love, even her name is a joke. That girl lost her cherry a long time ago.

Blood rushed to my head. I wanted to kill him for saying that. I’d fought long and hard to make sure none of those shitty foster dads got near my cherry. And I sure as hell didn’t want Ren Worthington thinking about my girl parts. People laughed at my name all my life but still, it grated, especially from Ren Worthington.

Great tits, though. Oscar paused. What...? Well she has. Don’t say you’ve never looked.

I practiced the deep breathing exercises I’d learned in anger management class, not easy when you’re trying to stay silent, and prayed those bastards would leave quick smart. I didn’t have time for this, and why the hell where they hanging around in the math room anyway?

You got it? Blake asked.

Got what? Hopefully not my trig book. Their rich boy legs moved closer to the desk, all perfectly pressed pants with the dry-cleaning smell still on them. No secondhand uniforms for them, no hanging your uniform over the radiator to get it dry for class the next day.

Yeah, I’ve got it. Ren’s laugh chilled me.

Ren rummaged in his pocket and pulled something out. From my position under the desk, I had no idea if it was a bag of high-grade cocaine, an assault weapon or his penis.

Whoa, Oscar said.

It could be a wad of Ren’s belly button fluff and Oscar would still be impressed. Everyone knew Oscar had a massive man-crush on Ren.

Put it away. Blake tapped the toe of one foot impatiently on the floorboards. If you get caught with that, not even your daddy’s money will protect you.

Something metal clinked on the floorboards. A ring rolled across the floor, landing way too close to my knee. Close enough to have me breaking out in a sheen of sweat.

Even if they couldn’t see me, if they got close enough to pick up the ring, they might hear me or sense the warmth of my body.

Ren bent down, his face coming into view.

I didn’t blink. I didn’t breathe. I tried to hold myself perfectly still.

He reached out for the ring, his hand almost touching my knee. I couldn’t pull away, not without risking exposing myself.

For a second, his gaze locked onto mine. The usual coldness in his eyes turned to something else, they seemed to sparkle. I could swear he saw me, but that was impossible.

Light hit the ring as Ren’s fingers curled around it.

My heart chilled.

That ring. Farran Quiller’s ring.

Everybody knew his ring. He never took it off. Ever. Not when he showered, not when he slept. Not when they made us do those stupid cross-country time trials in the middle of winter when everything got caked in mud.

He got constantly teased. Take it off and give us a look, someone would say in almost every class.

Farran didn’t know my mantra. He didn’t stay under the radar.

But then everyone in this school had things from home, small mementos. I guess if you actually had a family, and that family cared about you, you’d want to think about them. Like my best friend Lucas with his wolf plushie that he hid in his wardrobe.

I had nothing from my parents, nothing except a weird mark on my hip. Not a ring or a photo, not even a chewed up plushie.

Why did Ren have Farran’s ring? I’d have to discuss this with Lucas in the meeting. The meeting that started in... yikes, two minutes’ time.

I couldn’t leave, not until Ren and his creepy friends did. The forest of legs around me moved away but they hadn’t left the room.

What’s so special about it? Oscar asked. Dude loves the heck out of that ring. Is it super valuable?

Nothing. Ren’s voice sounded flat. Nothing at all. It’s cheap silver. Old but not expensive old. Maybe Farran was just a weird freak.

No maybe about it. Blake laughed. We know that for sure.

What are you going to do with it? Oscar asked.

I didn’t hear Ren’s answer just a muttering from the hallway. They’d left.

I hoped.

It could be a trap.

Only when their footsteps echoed down the hallway did I climb out from under the desk. I could make it to the meeting in time, if I ran really fast.

They’d definitely left but — huh? My trig book now sat on my desk.

My stomach tightened as I picked it up. It hadn’t been there before.

Maybe it had been a trap. Perhaps they’d seen me come into the classroom, followed me in and tried to be as offensive as possible, taunting me to lose my shit. Typical Ren trick. He’d report me to the principal then put on his innocent face and be all Cherry is scary and violent but laugh as they escorted me off the school premises.

Thank goodness for anger management.

I gave myself fifty points for not falling for it then grabbed my textbook. Before I fled, I couldn’t resist flipping to the back. I needed to scrub out that line.

But someone had already erased it.

Society is a pus-filled boil on the buttocks of Ren Worthington, it now read.

What the hell did that mean? No time to think. I had one minute to get across campus.

Chapter 2   

I RUSHED INTO THE SCHOLARSHIP room, panting and sweating, and slid into the empty seat next to Lucas.

To keep our activities secret, we got assigned a space at the back of the building where most of the older classrooms had been turned into store rooms.

A cracked window made the room even colder than normal. Edgewater Academy might look impressive with its ancient stone walls and Gothic architecture. Still, there were things more important than a fancy facade. Like central heating. The sun barely penetrated most of the classrooms and even in summer, you could get hypothermia if you weren’t careful.

For the meeting, the guys had set up the folding table and chairs. The crappy chair creaked as I threw my weight on it.

Looking to the front with a grin meant to appease, my gaze met empty space.

Where’s Mr. Norton?

Not here yet, Lucas said.

Yes. I almost punched the air. No black mark today.

I let out a sigh as I sunk back in the chair. In this room, I could be myself; my snarky, mouthy self. No need to wear the mask of politeness I wore the rest of the time. The ragtag bunch of students on the scholarship program might not be my friends but they were my people.

I’ve got to tell you something important, after the meeting.

Lucas mumbled without really answering.

Are you listening to me?

No, he wasn’t. That drooped head and the way he rubbed the back of his neck meant one thing, and one thing only. It was then I noticed her across the table from me. Britney. The rest of the guys were being less subtle, openly staring.

I shot her a smile. I’d been the only girl in this group for way too long.

The sea-green sun dress she wore matched the color of her eyes. How was she not freezing to death?

I’d have to tell her about my ‘stay under the radar’ mantra, although with her hair and skin, that might prove impossible. Not only did she have a natural radiance, but Britney was lithe. That was the perfect word to describe her. I wasn’t lithe. I was... I guess the word was lithe-less. Even the cheap fold up chairs wouldn’t creak under her weight.

Fae, Lucas whispered at me.

Lucas had an encyclopedic knowledge of all paranormal types but I’d guessed as much when I’d first seen her. Of course she wasn’t full blooded fae, none of us were full blooded anything, but we were tinged with enough paranormal genes to make us powerful hunters.

Well, most of us. One of us let the team down.

Me.

Crappiest hunter in the history of Edgewater Academy scholarship kids. My shadow hiding ability didn’t help much when it came to fighting.

Britney’s head perked up. Yes, I’m part fae. Not many people guess that. They just think I’m Scandinavian. But the most Scandinavian thing about me is the Ikea bookcase in my bedroom.

She smiled, a smile of sunshine and rainbows, and even with my lowly abilities, I picked up Lucas’ racing heartbeat.

Lucas loves guessing what types we all are. The same way some people love guessing star signs.

I’m werewolf. Lucas stared at his hands. I couldn’t see his face but his pink tinged ears said enough.

I jumped in, not sure if she’d been introduced. Mark, the guy at the head of the table—

Don’t tell me, I’ll guess. Britney peered at Mark. He’s all muscles and fierceness. Some kind of warrior... demon, definitely demon.

Mark gave us a flat handed wave.

War demon. Lucas mumbled without looking up. Next to him, Seth... well you just have to take a close look at his ears.

Elf? She smiled that smile again.

Elf. Lucas nodded in agreement, his heart hammering now.

He looks like... Britney didn’t need to finish for us to nod.

Yep, watched Lord of the Rings one too many times. I rolled my eyes. You can be an elf without, you know, the hair and all that but he loves flaunting it. Of course, the human students notice the resemblance but would never think he had actual elf blood in a million years.

Tarragon gave us a quick half-smile.

And Tarragon is a witch. Lucas now stared at the table as though those whorls in the fake wood were the most fascinating thing in the world.

Werewolves are the coolest. Britney smiled again.

Lucas’ ears turned from pink to glowing red. I didn’t need to see his face to know that his mouth twitched into a grin. But I’d have him at me for the rest of the night, talking about the awesomeness of Britney. Not that she didn’t seem awesome but when he crushed on girls, he never did anything but talk—to me, not them. I tried to tell him girls liked action, maybe a hello, how you doing? as a start, but he rarely even got that far. He’d already been far more articulate with Britney than with most girls.

The shrimpy Lucas I’d known in first year had disappeared, almost overnight, but then he’d gone through an awkward stage. All gangly limbs and a mouth that looked too big for his face. Now he towered over me, and I wasn’t exactly short. His body had filled out, not to Mark’s crazy bulk but Lucas had broad shoulders and nice collar bones and floppy hair that girls seemed to like. I tried to tell him he’d turned into a hottie but his mind, and self-esteem, still hadn’t caught up. I just had to get him to see that girls would be interested in him.

We didn’t mention what I was and thankfully, Britney didn’t ask.

Since Mr. Norton hadn’t arrived, I grabbed my backpack and got out some chocolate. The polite thing would be to offer some to Lucas but then I’d have to include Britney and then the others. Politeness was okay in its place but I had a serious chocolate emergency. And Lucas didn’t even like sweet foods.

Lucas’ eyes bulged when I rammed the chocolate into my mouth. I might be part wolf but you put me to shame.

PMS, I mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate. PMS and a bad case of Ren Worthington.

Lucas understood. My PMS was bad, but his monthlies were so much worse. All that shifting and howling at the moon.

How does that work? Lucas screwed up his face, like he needed to know even though it killed him to ask, while waving his hand in the general direction of my uterus. Lucas’ latest theory, and the most stupid to date, was that I was part vampire.

As if.

The fact that I pretty much passed out at the sight of blood proved him so totally wrong. I hated sunlight, sure, but in a normal, human not wanting to go outside kind of way.

And seriously, asking about my period in relation to that... no, just no.

Not going there, buddy. Then I flashed my teeth at him to prove they were no sharper than anyone else’s. And I’m not a vampire.

Although I suspected my chocolate covered teeth gave a very bad impression.

Lucas winced.

Cherry. Lucas. Mark rolled his eyes at Tarragon. The two of you need to grow up.

He only said that to impress Britney.

And you two need to get the sticks out of your butts.

It might be harsh but since I had to play nice with the other students, I turned the full force of my snark on the other scholarship kids. Mostly Mark and Tarragon because they were jerks, although a far lesser grade on the jerk spectrum than say Ren Worthington.

Hey, I whispered to Lucas. Do you think Ren Worthington is fully human?

Even in this group, Lucas was the only one I felt safe voicing my suspicions to.

Well, according to 99% of girls in this school, he’s a god. Why?

Before I could tell him, Mr. Norton walked in. It wasn’t like him to be late. That wasn’t all, either. Mr. Norton’s hair got more unruly the more stressed he became. And right now, his hair stuck up at alarming angles.

Sorry, I’m late. We’re got serious business to discuss. His nostrils twitched. A student disappeared on our watch. Do you know how that makes us look?

That shut everyone up.

Who? Mark asked. Can you tell us?

Farran Quiller. He went for a walk in the woods yesterday and didn’t come back.

I jumped. He didn’t come back because Ren Worthington had done something bad.

Chapter 3   

MARK STARTED ASKING Mr. Norton questions before I could get my head around what I’d seen earlier.

We don’t know many details, yet. Mr. Norton shook his head. The police are searching the woods. No one is allowed in there and if you see anyone trying to break that protocol, do what you can to stop them. Within reason, of course.

What do you think it was? Mark asked.

I got the impression Mark thought Farran was no longer with us. Dead. Gone. No more. I had another theory. He’d run away because of Ren’s bullying. It all made sense, and it wouldn’t be the first time someone had left the school for that reason.

I shot my hand in the air, bouncing in my seat.

Cherry, this is a meeting, not a classroom. You don’t need to raise your hand.

I knew that. I just didn’t want a black mark for interrupting.

What if Farran’s disappearance isn’t paranormal related? My voice came out in a rush. In a group of guys, I’d learned to speak fast. What if his disappearance is human-related instead?

That seems unlikely. The school is well guarded.

That was true. Us scholarship kids were the last line of defense, or maybe second last, third last even. But this school had super tight security against predators of both the human and supernatural kinds.

None of those lines of defenses would even consider Ren Worthington as a predator, and that was a huge mistake.

Not against internal threats. I toyed with the foil on my chocolate. I still had one piece left. If Norton got distracted, I’d grab it. I need chocolate as brain food.

You seem to know something, so spit it out, Mark said.

I told them about the incident in the class room, leaving out non-essential details like what I’d written in my text book, and Britney’s future career as a stripper, and being late for the meeting. When I mentioned Ren Worthington’s name, both Mark and Tarragon groaned.

Wait, there was hard evidence. I told them about the ring.

Maybe he found it and planned on handing it in, Mark said. You can’t accuse Ren of wrongdoing just because of that.

Yeah, right. He’d been flashing that ring around like a trophy. The more I thought about it, the fishier Ren seemed, and he’d been as fishy as a giant tuna to start with.

Britney started raising her hand then lowered it. Who’s Ren?

Tall guy, a bit of a jerk. How did I even start explaining Ren?

Face of a god, Mark added. Wow, I could add him to the Ren boy-crush list.

Perfect skin, perfect teeth, perfect hair. Okay, Seth too.

Brown eyes like molten chocolate. Of course Tarragon loved Ren. Everyone knew that. Dreamy eyes. Bedroom eyes, the kind of eyes that would gently but firmly judge you as you slowly undressed in front of him.

Jeez, Tarragon, just shut up now. No one wants to know about your Ren fantasies.

Were Lucas and I the only students in this whole school not in love with Ren Worthington?

You forgot the lip curl. Lucas slapped his hand on the table. The lip curl is the most important, the most defining feature of Ren Worthington. It sets him apart from all the other good-looking guys in this school. It gives him his edge.

The eyes, Tarragon repeated.

Lip curl, Seth said.

Yes, lip curl, Mark added.

I shook my head.

Can we stop with this? Mr. Norton gazed around the room, disgust on his face. Finally, some sense. It’s obviously the lip curl, end of discussion.

I turned the full force of my betrayal on Lucas. We hate Ren Worthington, I hissed.

Yeah, but you can’t deny the guy’s looks.

We’d talk about this later. Meanwhile, I popped the last square of chocolate in my mouth without Mr. Norton noticing even though all this Ren talk had made my stomach turn.

I saw him, Britney said. He has the Armani blazer?

That didn’t help. Everyone at this school wore Armani blazers. They were part of the uniform. Well, everyone not in this room wore them. Scholarship kids didn’t get to wear blazers. Ren had spearheaded that campaign. Poor kids shouldn’t be expected to buy designer clothes. That’d been his reasoning. More like poor kids are easier to bully when they’re dressed differently. Ren Worthington knew how to be a shitty douchebag but come out of it smelling like roses.

He has cold, dead fish eyes. That was the defining feature.

Britney gave a sharp nod. His friend with the shaggy hair is cuter.

Lucas’ jaw clenched.

Oscar? Britney preferred Oscar? How did that work? If she’d heard his thoughts on her lap dancing she wouldn’t think that, but I could hardly tell her.

Ren isn’t behind this, Mr. Norton said. I know that for a fact.

How do you know? Does he have an alibi? Because he’s really good at getting other people to do his dirty work for him. I sighed.

I can’t go into the details.

But he had Farran’s ring. I tried not to raise my voice. That is clear evidence.

Like Mark said, there might be a bunch of logical reasons why. We can’t start pointing fingers.

I rolled my eyes. I’d point my finger since I was the only one here not blinded by Ren love.

I believe you, Lucas whispered.

I smiled my forgiveness.

Mr. Norton went through a bunch of stuff about tightening security.

Things have become lax over the past few years, and I’m partly to blame for that. We can never let our guards down.

I expected him to tell me to take on extra duties in the girls’ dorms but he assigned that to Britney. I sighed. Ever since I’d screwed up the training drill last year, he didn’t trust me.

I’d probably be assigned to the private rooms on the upper floor. That’s where the super elite hung out. Except they had such high security up there, I couldn’t even get in. Until I started at this school, I never knew the rich came in so many shades. Old money meant more than new money and how you got your money made a world of difference. Angela Blackstone’s parents got rich with an IT security company which made her better in some way than Penny Smythe with her famous soccer player dad. And the Worthingtons were top of the heap because they’d had their money for literally centuries.

Personally, I’d be happy with old or new money. Any money was fine by me. So long as it was honestly come by, I didn’t need anything else.

I eyed the crumbs remaining in my chocolate foil. If I picked at them, would Mr. Norton notice? I’d been spoken to before about eating in meetings but technically that would be picking, not eating.

Cherry, can you stay behind after the meeting? Mr. Norton shook me out of my thoughts.

I could just imagine. This would be about my poor hunting performance.

To be honest, before Farran’s disappearance, I’d never really believed what they told us about paranormals preying on the rich kids. I mean, I believed it, I just didn’t think we’d need to protect them.

But that’d been the deal offered to me, and everyone else in the room: get a free ride to this prestigious academy, meals included, and in return use our special skills to hunt the monsters.

Demons and all sorts of paranormal creatures liked to prey on rich kids. Your garden variety demons, they were fine with just munching on any kind of human flesh, rich or poor, but the more advanced creatures, vampires especially, wanted better than a quick meal. You don’t get far in this world without cash. I knew that more than anyone, and an easy way to get that cash was from the rich.

Being confronted by monsters straight out of their nightmares would have the kids at this academy wetting their pants and in therapy for life. But, even worse from Edgewater’s point of view, they’d drop out of school and there’d be whispers, rumors. Not of demons or vampires or other creatures, just that the school wasn’t right.

That’s what they told each of us before we signed our name on that dotted line. The number one priority during our years at the school was to protect the school’s reputation.

Apparently, going back generations, the school scouted potential hunters to protect the rich kids. Students who’d blend right in. Students like us. And it’d been an easy ride so far.

In first year, we’d battled a few minor demons. Back then, I’d had no training.

Just stay on the edges and observe, Mr. Norton had told me. You’ll have your chance to fight later.

I’d observed enough to hope that chance never turned up.

It wasn’t coming face-to-face with demons that scared me, it wasn’t the risks of hunting. What had really freaked me out had been all that energy buzzing around me. I became like an overloaded power socket, ready to fry. Pressure filled my head, starting in my eyes but then expanding and growing tighter and tighter. It became like a tight band of metal, wrapping around my skull. I thought my head would burst like a watermelon and all I wanted to do was run and hide.

Edgewater Academy had wasted their money on me.

Luckily, since then, it’d been just training and drills. They gave us fancy watches when we started and any time of the day or night, an alarm could sound. When it did, we had to jump into action.

Okay, that’s all for today. Mr. Norton shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and turned to me.

Meeting dismissed. Mark clapped his hands together. He liked to do stuff like that to make himself look like our leader. He most definitely wasn’t our leader.

I’d stood up to leave with everyone else but Mr. Norton stopped me.

Can someone show Britney to her dorm? Since Cherry can’t take her.

Lucas will do it. I pushed him forward before he could protest then gave him a cheeky wink.

He’d thank me for that. One day.

Chapter 4   

WE HAVE TO KEEP THIS on the down low. Mr. Norton loved vaguely military sounding phrases.

He had us learning military hand signals to use in our drills too but everyone messed them up. It didn’t matter anyway. We all had a link, not really telepathy or anything that sophisticated, just a second sense for knowing what the others would do.

Well, who am I going to tell? I don’t exactly have many friends around here.

True, true. Don’t tell Lucas.

No problem. Yeah, right. The first thing I’d do after this meeting was tell Lucas.

He gave me a pointed look. Don’t tell anyone other than Lucas.

This might take a while so I leaned back on the edge of the table. It wobbled under my butt but I thought it would hold. Mr. Norton paced the floor with his hands behind his back.

We’ve discussed this—

Who exactly is ‘we’? I narrowed my eyes, hoping he’d spill the beans.

Some of the others teachers knew about our powers but which teachers, no one ever told us. We could only talk about scholarship business with Mr. Norton but of course we all wondered who else knew. If I got a name or two, I’d score major points with the rest of the gang.

Mr. Norton shook his head. That doesn’t matter. What matters is this - after Farran’s disappearance, some of the other students have been threatened. I need you to step up and take on extra duties.

I didn’t like the sound of that. Extra duties would cut into my study time and I made it a point of pride to come second in every class. I had an awesome grade point average and would be in the running for a real scholarship to a good college. Occasionally, I slipped and got first place but first place didn’t keep you under the radar. No one ever cared who came second.

What’s in it for me? I asked.

Extra credit and a room on the upper floor.

I sucked in my lips, considering. Even though my dorm room wasn’t luxurious, it suited me. It kept me out of harm’s way.

Sweeten the pot.

An allowance.

How much?

I reeled when he said the amount. That was no joke.

Hell yeah. You name it, I’ll do it. Bring on the extra duties.

One of the cafes in town was famed for its parfaits. Like they were considered the best parfaits in the world by the girls in this school who’d know about that kind of thing. Not once since I’d started here had I been able to scrape up the cash for one of those awesome parfaits. They cost almost as much as a secondhand car.

Now I could almost taste it, the ice cream mixing with the sweet syrup on my tongue. The fruits, the nuts, the little brownie poked on top. I’d peered in the window so many times and studied the menu so I knew exactly what I’d order.

I salivated just thinking about it. Well actually, I drooled, like a big, drooly dog. Finally, that parfait would be mine.

All you have to do is tutor Ren Worthington.

Bam.

My delicious dream disappeared, leaving a parfait-shaped hole in my heart. It’d been true love, a pure love. A sweet, sweet love. Now I had nothing.

Nope. No way. Forget it.

Any girl in this school would give their right arm to get that close to him.

So ask them. You could have a whole room full of right arms. They’ll be happy, and I’ll be happy to stay well away from him.

I got up from the desk and grabbed my bag. Conversation over.

Not so fast, Cherry. You obviously have some kind of issue with Ren.

He gave me one of those teacher smiles. The you can trust me smile. I stopped falling for that bullshit at eight-years-old. I’d tell him all my issues and he’d tell me that Ren wasn’t so bad and I should get to know him.

Come on, why Ren? Why me? You know I’m not even that good a fighter. Get one of the guys to do it. Mark, he’d be fantastic.

As much as Mark annoyed me, I couldn’t deny his fighting skills. He had the blood lust and the muscles. I had nothing really except the ability to hide myself. I’m not sure how that would help Ren.

Mr. Norton laughed. You’ve been picked for a reason. What would people think if Mark started tutoring Ren? His marks are worse than Ren’s ever could be. You’re the only one in this group who’d make a believable tutor. And tutoring is the only way we can get a hunter close to Ren.

See, the whole close to Ren thing is what I have problems with. And I’m not the body guard type.

Mr. Norton pursed his lips. You wouldn’t be a body guard as such. You probably wouldn’t even need to fight. If there’s any real danger, we’d get the others to intervene.

I shrugged my shoulders to adjust the weight of my backpack.

Like a canary?

Canary?

The canaries they send down mines to test for gas. If the canary dies, it’s not safe.

You won’t die, if that’s what worries you. It’d be more like an early warning system. Mr. Norton’s smiled in a way that was meant to soften the deal. It’s only for a few weeks, and I know you need the cash.

True facts. But I’d been poor all my life and I could be poor a while longer.

I crossed my arms. That’s a few weeks too many. Ren is tied up in this and maybe he’s threatening himself to take the heat off.

He’s in danger.

Is he at more risk than any other student?

Cherry. Mr. Norton moved closer to me. Sometimes you can be naive about how the world works. Ren is an extremely valuable member of this school. We can’t have him harmed or missing.

I pushed myself off the desk. My brain told me to shut up. Smile and nod. Stay under the radar. I didn’t have to agree but I could quietly refuse.

Sometimes my mouth didn’t listen to my brain.

That’s bullshit. You’re saying Ren’s life is more valuable than anyone else’s? Ren is a worthless dirt bag. He’ll be first against the wall when the revolution comes. I’ll never protect Ren Worthington. Never. If someone comes for him, I’ll throw him under the bus myself.

I walked to the door.

Cherry, wait.

I wanted to keep walking but I paused. What? Nothing you say will convince me.

You hate Ren. I get that. But if you want to prove he’s guilty of whatever you think he’s done, the best way to do that is to get close to him.

Sneaky. Very sneaky.

I considered it for a full minute then shook my head. I knew the system. Even if I cut Ren down, someone else would take his place. Oscar or Blake, maybe. Or some dark horse just waiting for the opportunity. The system never changed.

Whatever. I shrugged and left the room.

Chapter 5   

I WALKED BACK TO MY dorm turning the weird events of the day over in my mind. I still had a ton of study to get through before dinner but I also wanted to talk to Lucas.

Hello. Britney’s head popped over the side of the bunk above mine.

I jumped. No one ever slept on the top bunks if they could help it. These bunks were shoddy as hell.

Being the cheapest option in the school, our dorm room stayed half empty. Even though it was an eight-person dorm, it’d pretty much been just myself on this side of the room and Polly and Eri on the other. They spent most of their time in the common room so I rarely saw them.

There’s a spare bottom bunk. I pointed to the bed next to mine.

I like it up here. Britney swung off the bunk like an elite athlete.

Ah, yeah, well it’s like this. I’m kind of uncomfortable with you sleeping above me. These bunks aren’t real sturdy and if you move in your sleep or something then... rather than explain, I wriggled the pole nearest me making the entire bunk wobble and creak.

Right, Britney said. She grabbed her stuff and moved to the other bunk, staying on the top bed.

That meant she could see me when I slept, which freaked me out so much that I’d need to scrounge a blanket to make a curtain or I’d never get a wink of sleep. People watching me sleep freaked me out.

Still, I guess she had to sleep somewhere.

Britney hooked her arm through mine. Let’s go.

Go?

Go meet people. Hang out, that kind of thing.

She wanted to hang out with people? On purpose? That went against everything I stood for.

I don’t hang out. My plans involve staying here, studying until dinner time, then coming back for more study.

I didn’t want to tell her about meeting with Lucas because I didn’t know her well enough to start blurting out secrets.

That sounds like no fun at all. Britney pouted. I’m not going to meet any cute guys here in the dorm. I’ll see you later.

She actually flicked her hair before heading off to the common room. I thought of calling her back and warning her, but why put fear into her? She might make friends. She had the good looks and the perky personality to cut through their walls.

Not that I was ugly, well I didn’t think so, no matter how many times I’d been called it. People who called me ugly always had something to gain. Just that Britney had non-threatening good looks while I had a whole goth vibe going on. Unless I could be bothered tying it back, a curtain of black hair hung in my face and apparently, I snarled a lot.

Once she’d gone, I jumped up and headed to meet Lucas in the stairwell, our usual hangout spot. No one else bothered with the back stairs when there was an elevator and a grand staircase.

I’m going to kill you. Lucas leaned on the window sill, scowling at me. Making me show Britney to the dorm.

You needed a push. I tried not to grin. Don’t tell me. You couldn’t even say a word to her when you got her alone.

Lucas blushed. I sat beside him and put my arm around him. It’s not so hard, you know. Just talk to her like you talk to any other person instead of building things up in your mind.

He shrugged and asked me what Norton wanted. Nice change of subject but I wouldn’t push it, not now anyway.

He wants me to tutor Ren. I didn’t mention the threats on Ren’s life part because I’m pretty sure that’s the bit he wanted on the down low. Can you believe it?

Lucas double over, chuckling. You? You’d kill him.

Yeah, I would. Or even worse, he’d kill me.

Before I could get into the details of my plan, alarms beeped on both our watches. We stared at each other. Those alarms only went off for an attack. A demon attack.

It’s another drill, right? I stared at the red blinking light.

Even if it is, we’d better rush. It’s so like Norton to have a drill just before dinner, but then it could be for real this time.

WE RUSHED TO THE SCHOLARSHIP room, to the designated meeting spot. The others stood around waiting, so it was a drill.

This is not a drill, Mr. Norton said, but then he always said that. I mean it this time. The school is being attacked. Are you ready to fight?

Mark whooped and punched his fist in the air. I hung at the back, hoping no one would notice me. It wasn’t that I hated drills... well, yeah, it was. Drills involved a lot of things I hated — physical activity, getting dirty and pain. I really hated pain.

Stick with me, Lucas said.

Even though Lucas’ powers were strongest on the full moon, he could shift at any time. Yeah, I’d stick with him. Having a wolf beside me made this a whole heap less scary.

We’re heading out to the woods, Mr. Norton said. We’re not sure exactly what’s out there but we think it’s vampires.

Great. Adding the threat of having my blood drained to the other risks didn’t make this any more enticing. Even though I knew hunting was the entire reason for me being at this school, I wasn’t the killer type.

Mr. Norton went through tactics. Mark and Tarragon to lead the attack, Seth to keep to the treetops with wood tipped arrows, Lucas and I at the rear.

Britney? Where’s Britney? His head spun looking for her.

She ran along the hallway, her hair flying around her like a halo and her feet barely touching the floor. Sorry I’m late. I got chatting and I forgot what this watch alarm meant. Nothing serious, I hope.

That’s fine.

What? Mr. Norton said that? If it’d been me, I’d have black marks and a lecture. Sure, it was Britney’s first day, but to let her off that lightly seemed out of character.

His talkie-walkie buzzed and he spoke into it. All coded stuff like Charlie foxtrot over and out.

The student body has been contained, he said. Time to head out.

He handed us weapons; stakes and knives. The sorts of things we couldn’t just carry on us during the normal school day. I shoved the stake in the waist band of my skirt and then yelped.

The stake hurt you? Lucas looked at me expectantly.

Splinter. Right in my soft belly flesh.

Then I gave him my not a vampire glare.

Mark, Tarragon and Seth pulled up the mat in the middle of the room. A cleverly disguised trap door lead to passages under and through the school. You could get to the woods without being seen that way.

I never used those passages if I could help it. Full of spiders’ webs and darkness and dripping water.

Britney glanced from us to the trap door.

We’ll go the normal way, I explained.

Britney gave a regretful grin then took off after the others through the trap door.

When we got to the woods, I grabbed Lucas’ hand. He’d pull away if he wanted to shift but until then, I needed the reassurance. I hated the woods at the best of times. I hated outdoors, except maybe a nice park where I could curl up and read, with a gentle breeze blowing and an ice cream truck nearby. That kind of outdoors worked for me, not dark woods with tree roots to trip on and horrible spider-filled branches and vampires.

It’s okay, Lucas said. Nothing is going to harm you.

Yeah, tell that to Farran. Maybe vampires got him. Maybe he became a vamp buffet. Or maybe he got turned and he’s the one out there.

Ahead of us, Mark crashed through the undergrowth. We knew it was Mark without needing to see him. Stealth wasn’t Mark’s strong point. He loved brute force, the bruter, the better.

I didn’t mind. The vampires would know we were coming and maybe run away way before we reached them.

As the distance between us increased, his crashing faded. I could no longer hear anyone but Lucas beside me, his heartbeat slow and steady. And some owls hooting and the wind blowing through the leaves.

What’s our plan? Lucas asked.

Hang back and let Mark and Tarragon get the glory. He needed to ask?

Disappointment flickered over Lucas’ face. Was this enough for him, always hanging back with me? There had to be a part that wanted to run free and hunt. The wolf part.

The rustling of the leaves around us got louder. I reached for Lucas, holding tight to his arm. He clung to me just as hard.

Shift, I whispered.

I’m trying, Lucas hissed back.

Lucas had an issue. In training, he shifted just fine but, under pressure, he sometimes got stuck. The more he tried to force it, the more flustered he became and the harder it become for him to fully

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